Public servants want 'bank time' deal

pay

Civil servants are looking for four-and-a-half days holidays to compensate them for the fact they lost half-an-hour each week off to cash their cheques.

The old 30-minute allowance was scrapped five years ago, when staff started getting paid electronically.

But the Civil Public and Services Union (CPSU) has now secured agreement with public sector management for an arbitration process to hammer out a deal for compensation.

CPSU general secretary Eoin Roynane said they are hoping to get a once-off four-and-a-half holiday days for the loss of the perk.

arbitration

Roynane explained that higher grades of the civil service previous went to arbitration on the issue and won, giving them 32 days annual leave compared to 24 for lower grades.

"We felt very aggrieved by that," he said.

The CPSU has previously argued that the elimination of bank time was the equivalent of a 1.6pc pay cut.

Commenting on the holiday demand, Dublin North Central Independent TD Finian McGrath said if the 13,000 civil servants affected got nearly five days extra holidays that would amount to quite a bill.

"This is a bit over the top. The real issue for the CPSU should be low pay, not four days off for an antiquated allowance that was consigned to the past when electronic payments came in," he told the Herald.

"We need a modern professional public service and this does not affect the majority of them," he added.